


Thunder

by run_sure_footed



Series: Mod Froglets [1]
Category: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon)
Genre: Frog sign language, Gen, Harris is treated like a nuisance generally, Mod Frogs don't do parenting, Terrible childhoods, fear of thunder, humiliation by authority figure, lying to cover for someone, mentioned yelling, thoughts of high mortality rate of Froglets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28137015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/run_sure_footed/pseuds/run_sure_footed
Summary: J and H are growing up. No longer Tadpoles, they should learn not to rely on each other.
Series: Mod Froglets [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2061339
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Thunder

alright so some basic explanations! (I was going to put this in the summary but it got too long)

1) Frogs hatch from eggs into Tadpoles and spend about five years in the water with gills before growing lungs and strong enough limbs to climb out and walk. 

2) Tadpoles and Froglets are kept in a central part of the Pond, safe from other mutes and mostly segregated from the adult Frogs.

3) Froglets are given letter names as soon as they develop legs and start walking around and needing to be taught/trained. The mortality rate of Froglets is really high, especially when they're young so giving them letter names is a reminder for everyone to not get attached. They don't get their real names (starting with the letter they were assigned) until they're teenagers. A lot of teaching is done by pointing or saying 'hey you', many adult Frogs don't bother learning their letter names.

4) Mod Frogs don't do parenting, but they do train the Froglets almost constantly. They're monitored most of the time and taught to fight/steal/etc very young. It's expected that they will compete and fight and hurt each other, and even occasionally kill each other. 

5) Mod Frogs have their own sign language, so they can speak underwater and when they have to be silent, but Tadpoles have a separate sign language. The simplest words/concepts are described with the tail, and once Froglets grow hands the language gets more complex. It involves the tail as well as hands, so adult Frogs can't actually speak it and Froglets are discouraged from using it. When we write someone using sign language their words will be italicized. (and we'll often remark on it the first time they use it so everyone's on the same page)

6) At this point, Harris doesn't have red eyes, orange hands, stripes or any blue. He's just a yellowish colour when most Froglets are a really dark-green or even still black. Most Tadpoles are black, but Harris was yellow.

* 

_Thunder_

H folded his pillow in half and clapped it over his tympana, eyes squeezed shut. It was no good. He could still hear it. He flipped onto his other side quickly, glowering in the dim room. “Shut up!” he hissed at J. “You’re going to get us in trouble!” There was another flash outside the glass-less windows, quickly followed by an earth-shattering _BOOM!_ H startled, his legs reflexively tensing, but he heard J croak again beside him. He threw his pillow at the idiot, then immediately regretted it. He’d been worried enough about their minder coming to yell at J for croaking because of a little thunder, but now _he_ would have to get out of bed and retrieve his pillow and he’d get in as much—if not more—trouble if they were caught. _Stupid J._ He was just always _there_ , every time H turned around! Always smiling and acting like they were still Tadpoles who could have friends, not Froglets who _couldn’t_. And now he was croaking like a legless baby!

J clamped his hands over his mouth, but there was no stopping the involuntary croaks inflating his throat. It wasn’t something he could control, but he still tried, desperately, to contain it. He didn’t apologize to H for his reaction, didn’t argue, he didn’t say anything. He did flinch as H’s pillow hit him, his legs trembling, desperately wanting to hop somewhere, away, to escape. But there was no escaping the thunder, and outside was even worse than inside, so all he could do was cower. He felt so weak, he was supposed to show no fear to anyone, but here he was croaking helplessly over a little—the thunder cracked again and he buried his face against his pillow, muffling himself at least.

Sighing, H dropped from his bed and flattened himself against the floor, creeping over to the bed next to his. “Give it back!” he whispered, folding himself up as small as possible in hopes that he wouldn’t be an obvious Frog-shape for their minder to spot.

J realized he was holding H’s pillow now. He thrust it at him carelessly, curling up around his own pillow in a tight, miserable ball. He didn’t want to deal with H right now, didn’t want to be called a Tadpole or be yelled at. He just wanted the storm to be over.

H grabbed his pillow and was about to return to his bed when there was another long roll of thunder. He groaned to himself. He slid his pillow across the floor so it landed under his bed, where it hopefully wouldn’t be noticed for a few minutes, then reached up and felt around until he found J’s arm. He gave it a squeeze the way J had done to calm him down so many times when he was afraid or angry. He suspected he was squeezing a little _harder_ than J usually did, but he was still annoyed with J. He was only doing this to shut him up.

J’s eyes opened with surprise. He squeezed back, tightly. H was holding his hand, comforting him. He’d never done that before, he didn’t even seem to like it when J did it for him. Not anymore.

H could feel J slowly relax, and he let out a small sigh of relief. He was just about to let go when the loudest boom of all shook the building. He heard several other hastily smothered croaks, as well as a few startled gasps and muffled shrieks.

He saw movement at the edge of his vision and flattened himself even closer against J’s bed—without letting go of his hand.

“Quiet! All of you!” Their bored-sounding minder clapped his hands sharply to emphasize his point, then turned on his heel and retreated to his small doorless room, where he’d still be able to hear every sound they made.

H drew in a deep, relieved breath. Their minder hadn’t looked that closely, and the noise from the other Froglets had mostly covered J’s full-throated fear croak.

Still…H couldn’t take the risk that they’d be so lucky again. He didn’t care if _J_ got in trouble, he assured himself. He just wanted to make sure the dummy didn’t get them _all_ in trouble if he kept this up. If he went back to his own bed, J would probably just start croaking again, and he couldn’t spend the whole night on the floor with his arm up like this. He lifted his head to J’s tympanum and breathed, “Move over.”

J shuffled over, letting H crawl up next to him. He trembled next to him, still holding his hand tightly. He wanted to wrap his arms around H and never let go, but he was pretty sure H wouldn’t put up with that.

H wrapped himself around J tightly—only to make him feel safer, _and_ to make it less obvious that there were two Froglets in the bed.

J buried his face against H, holding on like he was about to be torn away. Slowly the croaking faded. After each roar of thunder J would flinch and another croak would break free, but only one.

The storm faded into the distance, leaving only the sound of rain on the roof above them. It was a peaceful sound. H liked the rain. It was the closest he could get to swimming now that he’d left the Pond. He wished he could go out and splash around in it now, but he knew he was already pushing his luck.

J slowly relaxed as the weather changed. He felt exhausted, not just because he’d been up half the night, but because containing his fear and holding himself tense for hours to try and stop himself from trembling was exhausting.

H closed his eyes and contented himself with the sound of it drumming above him. He would just stay another minute. Just in case the thunder came back.

J felt H drift off in his arms and he felt a deep calm overtake him. He felt safe, not just because the thunder was gone, but because H had had his back. H had come to help him, even if he was constantly annoyed by J. Maybe they weren’t friends anymore, since they weren’t Tadpoles, but at least they could protect each other. A little.

The sky didn’t seem to get any brighter, but J could tell it was getting to be morning. He shook H gently. “Hey,” he whispered.

H groaned and pushed at whatever was bothering him with both his hands and feet, then rolled over so his back was to it.

“H, wake up, you have to get back to your bed.” J kept his voice incredibly soft, not wanting any of the other Froglets to overhear.

H’s eyes widened with horror and he had to keep himself from sitting bolt upright, which would certainly draw attention to them. He waited a moment until his heart had slowed down a little, then slid sideways off the bed and onto the floor. He crept back to his own bed, lay flat on his back the way he was supposed to, and tucked himself in. He scowled, flipping from side to side. He just couldn’t get comfortable like this! He wished he could fold himself up the way his body longed to sleep. No, there was something else.

Shit! His pillow!

He had just started snaking his arm beneath the bed, trying to grab it without having to sit up again, when he heard their minder’s footsteps coming. He quickly pulled his arm back against his side, closed his eyes, and pretended to be asleep.

The older Mod Frog clapped his hands twice, giving the dormitory a quick glance. No one was bleeding or dead. Good. Less paperwork.

The Froglets all sat up and chirped as one, “Good morning, sir.”

He grumbled and waved a hand dismissively to release them. In just a few minutes they’d be someone else’s problem and he could go to sleep.

The Froglets started trailing into the small changing area to get out of their pyjamas and put on their uniforms for the day.

The minder grinned to himself. “H!” he barked. “Where’s your pillow?”

Mute with fear and unable to answer verbally, H scrambled to pull it out from under his bed. He held it out in front of himself like a pathetic shield.

The minder scoffed. “And _why_ was it on the floor?” he asked. He especially liked it when this particular Froglet fucked up. He was honestly surprised the little weirdo had lived this long.

H’s eyes widened. He didn’t know how to answer, especially without also getting J in trouble, which was what he’d been trying to avoid in the first place. Well, or J getting all of them in trouble. But he knew that if he didn’t speak up soon, everyone would be punished because of _him_.

J piped up. “I took it from him, sir.”

Right. _That_ was why H had survived. “And why,” the minder drawled, “would you do that?” J showed some promise, if only he’d unhook himself from his bizarre fixation on H, who would only bring him down. Not that he really cared which Froglets lived or died. Few enough of them would live long enough to get their ties, and those were the only Frogs who concerned him.

H froze, fingers tightening on the pillow before he could throw it at J again. _What are you thinking?_ he silently shouted at the idiot.

“He was annoying me, so I took it,” J lied easily. Bullying other Froglets generally went unpunished.

“Mm-hmm.” The minder shook his head. He didn’t believe J, not for a minute—though he was a fairly convincing liar for such a long-tail—but he had no way to prove he wasn’t telling the truth. Or enough interest to pursue this any further. Well, after one final barb at the yellow runt. “Is that true?”

H nodded frantically, trying not to look at J. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to control his expression.

The minder sighed, tapping the toe of his Chelsea boot. “I asked you a question.”

“Y-yes, sir! No, sir. Yes. What J s-said is correct. Is what happened. Sir.”

The minder rolled his eyes. “Very well. You can both spend the day in your pyjamas as punishment. Don’t do something stupid like this and annoy me again. Go on, go bother someone else.” He turned his back on them and started herding the dressed Froglets out the door, yelling at the slower ones to finish changing and move on.

They only had a moment between being out of sight of their night-minder before their instructor arrived. H whipped around the corner of the dormitory, cocking his head at J to let him know he wanted him to follow.

J was after him immediately, knowing H well enough to pick up on his cues.

 _“Why did you do that?”_ H signed frantically once they were out of sight, hands moving so quickly the signs all slurred together, each movement crisp and angry. He wasn’t really supposed to use Tadpole sign, but he didn’t want to be overheard and they hadn’t learned adult Frog sign yet.

J shrugged, signing back, _“As thanks.”_

 _“You’re_ _stupid!”_ H stamped his foot. Having to wear his pyjamas was awful—though he knew his punishment could have been much worse. And at least he wasn’t the only one.

J just laughed. “ _Come on, let’s go_.”

*


End file.
